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Often Running Is Good For The Brain

Aug 10, 2018

Running often is good for the brain

A medical research institution in the United States published a paper claiming that people who run often have a younger brain and are smarter! In the four years from 1979 to 1983, the researchers organized 1,500 people to participate in a test, allowing them to gradually increase from a speed of 22 points / km to 7 points / km, until they can't run! After 20 years, they are called to come back to the test and find that those who often exercise regularly have a slower brain atrophy and a more agile thinking. People who run 20 kilometers a week are 8 years younger than their sedentary, and have more muscles and bones. young.

More and more scientific research shows that running can not only be a fitness but also a brain. So how does running improve the brain and mind?

Running changes the distribution of your brain's lines.

A research team at the University of Arizona has a new perspective. In their view, running requires amazingly high levels of cognitive skills, especially if you are running fast or on a challenging route. The team includes neuroscientists who recently completed the first functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) study of young, highly-satisfied runners and non-swilders of the same age.

By studying them, they concluded that runners have “significant differences” in the functional connectivity of rest states, and the researchers believe that the differences may extend to “motion-independent activities”. In other words: Running can make you smarter.

2, sprint running can make your execution function burst

In a study published last year in the Journal of Preventive Medicine, the researchers invited young subjects with an average age of 12 to complete multiple 10-second sprints in 10 minutes and then do some cognitive tests. Then on another day (either one day before the sprint or the day after the sprint), they will complete the same cognitive test after ten minutes of rest. The Stroop test* shows that the execution function of the participant is enhanced after just running and after 45 minutes, compared with the rest.

The Stroop test is a long-standing test of psychological control, and psychological control is also called "execution function" by psychologists. The digital symbol replacement test found that the visual spatial memory ability or the underlying neural response rate was not affected.

Based on their research, sprints have significant benefits for the brain's executive function, and Simon Cooper and his colleagues say there are reasons for schools to increase their chances of participating in high-intensity physical activity.

*Stroop test: A series of color words (red, green, yellow, etc.) are used in the test, but the meaning of the word is matched with the color of the writing gates. For example, the word "red" is written in green, the word "yellow" is written in red, etc.). In the experiment, when the subject was asked to say the color of the word as soon as possible, the subject often read the word automatically, which is the competition between the color naming process and the reading process.

3, running may make your mind calm down

It’s interesting to say that many runners say that jogging and calming moods restore their brains to everyday fears and rumors. A study published last year in Brain Experimental Research provided scientific evidence to support this claim.

Petra Wollseiffen and her colleagues used an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure the brain electrical activity on their brain surface during the six-hour run of 11 athletes participating in the super marathon. Running was associated with decreased activity in the frontal cortex. In the first hour, runners also reported feeling more relaxed and the feeling of "heart flow" increased. However, the decrease in brain activity is not related to the increase in heartbeat experience. So, to say that this study shows that running makes you feel relaxed by turning off your brain, and it's a bit too simplistic.

4. running can make the brain "excited"

You will feel very happy after running, and some studies have shown that this is related to changes in brain chemical transmitters. For example, in a study published in the "Cortex" in 2008, researchers used PET (positron emission tomography) neuroimaging to show that compared with the state before running, 2 hours of running is How to enhance the opioid active peptides in different brain regions, opioid peptides are related to our subjective pleasure.

This finding confirms that running activates the brain to increase the secretion of endorphins, which is a natural state of excitement.

5. running a marathon can eliminate your painful memories

First of all, we still don't want to romanticize the long-distance running. “A lot of literature research is focusing on the negative effects of running marathons,” especially because of the various pains caused by marathons, including wind, blisters and cramps.

The usual response to athletes who regularly participate in marathons is that completing a marathon brings satisfaction, which can eliminate their memories of pain in the process.